Surfacing the Void is an exploration of surface design in relationship to the topic of voids. For the purpose of this paper, two types of void were addressed: shelters and hulls. The theme behind the sculptural works dealt with negative spaces as an analogy for the voids in people's lives. The goal was to find a way for the surfaces to elicit an emotional response from the viewer that correlates to the impression of either shelter or hull. Keeping this in mind, each experiment was approached with how to best represent the meaning of void being manifested. Imagery was applied during different states of the clay: wet, dry, and fired. Methods of exploration included texturing, drawing, stenciling, stamping, incising, decoupage and covering the surfaces with textiles.

This thesis covers a series of etchings created between 1998 and 2000 in completion of the requirements for graduation. The paper covers the origins and implications of the symbology within the artwork as well as the natural settings displayed. It also speaks of the mythos of art and symbols, as well as my strategy in Art making.

There has been a growing trend in the film industry in the use of three dimensional computer generated images (3D CGI) for special effects. With the popularity of this relatively new medium comes the need for new terminology. This exploration developed a general system of classification for 3D CGI effects for use in film. This system was based on a study of various writings about the significant films, which employ 3D CGI effects. A three-group system of classification system was developed. The three-group system was composed of the Elements Group, Level of Reality Group, and the Kind Group. These terms were developed to aid in the day-to-day production of 3D CGI special effects in the future.

Document that details the conception, evolution and conclusions of a body of work consisting of seven prints executed in the printmaking technique of intaglio printing in the manner of the state print. The work is discussed by explaining the visual and conceptual associations that occur in an "Alice In Wonderland" manner, where the initial idea is paired with seemingly unrelated topics to establish a progressive visual language. This language is further supported by discussing a comparative of the state print with the idea of the sketchbook as a tool of thought generation and elaboration. The technical aspects of intaglio and the choice of techniques utilized are discussed to support this comparison. How the quality of the prints reflects the quality of the sketchbook and how these techniques combine with the conceptual reasoning, which result in the body of work. Findings for the work are based on three questions that deal with the progression of conceptual reasoning, predictability of recurring ideas and the intentions of the technical choices made.

This study proposes a method for measuring the regional economic impact of a relatively new sport: stock car racing. Although research on the economic impact of most major league sports is abundant, little has been written on stock car racing. The purpose of this paper is to estimate, through a simulation, the regional economic impact of Texas Motor Speedway. The study finds that the Texas Motor Speedway boosted economic activity by $87,179,367 in 1998 from racetrack operations, and supported 5,300 jobs paying $22,293,135 in earnings. In addition, expenditures by speedway visitor from outside the region are estimated at $22,985,200, further increasing the total local economic activity by $49 million.

This study examines the fiscal impact the Ballpark in Arlington has on the City of Arlington. Many individuals argue that the new Ballpark in Arlington would create numerous new jobs and bring added economic development to the city, thus increasing tax revenues. An interrupted time-series approach was used to determine whether or not the new ballpark has a measurable impact on retail sales tax receipts in the City of Arlington. Based on sales tax rebate data obtains from the Texas Comptroller's Office, the study found no significant increase in sales tax receipts for Arlington during the baseball season. However, this is not to say that the Ballpark in Arlington has no impact on total local economic activity. These findings do call into question, as other studies have, the relative fiscal value of publicly-sponsored professional sports venues.

The focus of my graduate work was to find my own voice through my continued efforts in woodcarving. I proposed to produce six to eight wood carved sculptures for my thesis that would be dealing with a juxtaposition of struggle expressively portrayed by the figure between two-dimensional and three-dimensional worlds. I used these works to express my emotions about myself, and my interactions with others in a form of nonverbal communication with the viewer. The result of this process did lead me to find my own voice and with this voice I expressed three-dimensionally, not only my own struggles, but also those that many other women have experienced as well.

As the use of virtual environments (VEs) is becoming more widespread, user needs are becoming a more significant part in those environments. In order to adapt to the needs of the user, a system should be able to infer user interests and goals. I developed an architecture for user modeling to understand users' interests in a VE by monitoring their actions. In this paper, I discussed the architecture and the virtual environment that was created to test it. This architecture employs sensors to keep track of all the users' actions, data structures that can store a record of significant events that have occurred in the environment, and a rule base. The rule base continually monitors the data collected from the sensors, world state, and event history in order to update the user goal inferences. These inferences can then be used to modify the flow of events within a VE.

Due to the growing need of the Internet and networking technologies, simple, powerful, easily maintained distributed applications needed to be developed. These kinds of applications can benefit greatly from distributed computing concepts. Despite its powerful mechanisms, Jini has yet to be accepted in mainstream Java development. Until that happens, we need to find better Remote Method Invocation (RMI) solutions. Feasibility of implementation of Multicasting in RMI is worked in this paper. Multicasting capability can be used in RMI using Jini-like technique. Support of Multicast over Unicast reference layer is also studied. A piece of code explaining how it can be done, is added.

This article explores the ways in which Katherine Anne Porter's fiction uniquely supplements cultural narratives of Mexicanness, Americanness, and the implications of their co-existence.

The finite element method (FEM) is reviewed and applied to the one-dimensional eigensystems of the isotropic harmonic oscillator, finite well, infinite well and radial hydrogen atom, and the two-dimensional eigensystems of the isotropic harmonic oscillator and the propagational modes of sound in a rectangular cavity. Computer codes that I developed were introduced and utilized to find accurate results for the FEM eigensolutions. One of the computer codes was modified and applied to the one-dimensional unbound quantum mechanical system of a square barrier potential and also provided accurate results.

Competition to lure corporations has become an enormous issue between states. Smaller communities feel unable to participate in economic development opportunities since their budgets do not provide the necessary funding. In 1979, the Texas state legislature passed the Development Corporation Act in an attempt to aid the smaller communities' quest for economic development. The Act allowed for the creation of local development corporations; however, it did not provide a sufficient funding source to assist the corporations. Therefore two local sales options were established. This paper reports the findings of an analysis of per capita income and employment changes after the adoption of an economic development sales tax. The analysis showed no statistically significant impacts on cities adopting an economic development sales tax when compared with non-adopting cities.

Chapter I describes how my works are grounded in a Chinese point of view, based on sociological and anthropological approaches as defined in my work. The questions in my Statement of Problem deal with how I use "imbalance" in my works, yet still find a way to make acceptable compositions to better tell my stories. I relate how my work constitutes a positive act or event in an evolving world culture. Chapter II discusses the work I focused around the questions posed in Chapter I. Chapter III expresses my conclusion about my work and my goals for the future.

The problem involves developing a method that leaves conventional form and form making and moves toward a spontaneous and intuitive approach. The thesis is organized into 3 chapters. The first chapter includes an introduction, statement of the problem and methodology. The second chapter describes the work in eight movements. The third chapter answers questions posed by the problem and includes a summary and conclusion. The findings are that a spontaneous, impulsive, and intuitive approach to the medium, clay, is a productive and artistic method. The medium is responsive and telling of the method and art is produced.

Ever since I became interested in the world of ceramics, crystalline glazes have been the most fascinating and challenging to me. Even though crystalline glazes are the most difficult and elusive to potters, their spectacular results (when done right) keep me coming back. Over the last year I have developed a crystalline glaze that yields consistent and excellent results. During this period, I have worked with these glazes in the traditional manor, being that they are only applied to smooth porcelain vessels. My proposal will be to attempt crystalline glazes on different surface textures.

Movement, whether conveyed through an actual motion or a gestured implication, remains an underlying theme in my creative process that started with my earliest works. I explored different aspects of kinetic sculpture, because I am seeking new ways to create motion such as experimenting with circulating air, wind, and the use of water features. I created a series consisting of three to five kinetic sculptures which do not rely on sound or direct viewer manipulation.

Through this body of work and this paper the possibilities of using Fashion Design to express the concepts of the circle has been explored. This was done with three questions in mind: How can I use the shape of the circle as inspiration for fashion design? How can I express related words and phrases in my design? and How can I use the colors black and white to emphasize the concept of my design. To answer these questions I have created two groups of garments: one was inspired by circular objects, such as cherries and drops, and the other starting from words and phrases such as "study circle" and "circle the wagons." In the first group the emphasis was on the aesthetics of the garment while the second group was more focused on meaning. All garments are black and white.

Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) is the retrieval of images from a collection by means of internal feature measures of the information content of the images. In CBIR systems, text media is usually used only to retrieve exemplar images for further searching by image feature content. This research work describes a new method for integrating multimedia text and image content features to increase the retrieval performance of the system. I am exploring the content-based features of an image extracted from a video to build a storyboard for search retrieval of images. Metadata encoded multimedia features include extracting primitive features like color, shape and text from an image. Histograms are built for all the features extracted and stored in a database. Images are searched based on comparing these histogram values of the extracted image with the stored values. These histogram values are used for extraction of keyframes from a collection of images parsed from a video file. Individual shots of images are extracted from a video clip and run through processes that extract the features and build the histogram values. A keyframe extraction algorithm is run to get the keyframes from the collection of images to build a storyboard of images. In …

The focus of my work is the incorporation of three-dimensional sculptural forms into the design of my garments while still maintaining the functional purpose of the garment. Origami paper folding is the inspiration for the sculptural forms. The major endeavor was to explore and solve the relationship between the organic human forms and the geometric forms created by the origami paper folds. This presented a challenge of exact precision. During this process, I experimented with different fabrics, which can accommodate the sharp creases and retain the shape. A variety of folding patterns were also explored. Although the design should be innovative and creative, the final garment must be wearable and comfortable.

The FrameNet database is being used in a variety of NLP research and applications such as word sense disambiguation, machine translation, information extraction and question answering. The database is currently available in XML format. The XML database though a wholesome way of distributing data in its entireness, is not practical for use unless converted to a more application friendly database. In light of this we have successfully converted the XML database to a relational MySQL™ database. This conversion reduced the amount of data storage amount to less than half. Most importantly the new database enables us to perform fast complex querying and facilitates use by applications and research. We show the steps taken to ensure relational integrity of the data during the refactoring process and a simple demo application demonstrating ease of use.

I chose to exhibit sculpture and classical style vessels together to encourage discussion about whether ceramics should be considered a fine art medium. I was interested in experimenting with different forms and textures in order to see which combination would captivate the viewing audience the longest. I found that massive textural sculptural forms held the attention of the viewer more so than did the classical smooth surfaced vessels.

This problem in lieu of thesis concerns voyeurism and fetishism and how they relate to art. It addresses at voyeurism from both sides of the gaze. It describes a body of work that was created to explore the relationship between the voyeur and the fetish object and the viewer and the art object.

I have always believed the design of clothes should not try to conceal the naked body but should act as a catalyst that reveals the existence and strength of the individual. Spring Message includes three phases, Spring Message, Mystification, and My Paradise to reflect my three life experiences. Spring Message is an attempt to express my thoughts and ideas though designs in fashion, which were derived from the ancient beliefs, traditions, and western influence I have experienced. Through my individual pieces and creations I hope the viewer will be able to see who I am, where I came from, and understand the happiness and changes in my life.

The focus of my graduate work was to figure my way through a variety of challenges and transitions I was going through as a graduate student and simply as a person finding my way through my education to discover who I am and who I want to become. Perhaps my themes didn't focus primarily on these events in a literal sense, but I think the transitions in my artwork have become obvious through my time spent at UNT and the variations on a theme I have dealt with. All of my work deals with love, attraction, repulsion and the consequences we deal with as human beings when we make choices according to whom we choose to have relations with. It became very important for me to deal with these issues in an effort to discover what my expectations of myself as an artist and a person are.